Body scanners and pat downs
I started this blog entry soon after returning from WFC, and then never got around to finishing it (this happens to a surprising number of my posts.) Since discussion on this point has heated up in the past few days, I figured I'd finish it up.
So as many of you are now painfully aware, the TSA is putting in large full body scanners at U.S. airports. Many people have voiced all kinds of unhappy complaints with this, including privacy concerns and the fact that with the body scanners you have to take absolutely everything out of your pockets, including wallets, cash and Kleenexes, and put them on the scanner. Based on my extremely unrepresentative sampling at the Columbus airport, most people are not happy with the wallet part, especially since your stuff is usually resting for some time on the other side of the conveyor belt while you are waiting to go through the scanner and as Leverage has taught us it does not take long to lift a wallet.
These are all valid concerns. I have another: I can, on medium or good days, make it through the metal detector if I release my cane at the last minute, stumble through and grab something on the other end. It's not pretty (and I have fallen) but it can be done.
With the body scanner, however, you have to be able to stand still. Since I can't do this without at the very least wobbling and swaying, I now have to do the patdown in my wheelchair.
The patdown is problematical for several reasons. The first, and one that I didn't think about prior to Columbus, is that my lightweight but still metal wheelchair sets off the still present metal detectors anyway unless it is placed in a very very precise position which takes some time to figure out, inconveniencing a lot of people besides me (the poor woman trying to get through the metal detector had to go through three times until my wheelchair was in the right place). So that was annoying for everybody.
Now, the actual patdown, for the curious:
You are wheeled to the side until a female agent can be found to pat you down, or a male agent if you are male. (I don't know what happens with intersexed people in wheelchairs. I did ask about transsexuals and at both Orlando and Columbus Airports the official word is that you will be assigned an agent of the gender you identify with. I don't know if that soothes or heightens concerns.) This takes a while since neither Columbus nor Orlando have enough of the specially trained agents of either gender to handle the number of people needing patdowns (they were also patting down people not using wheelchairs for various reasons.)
The agent asks if you would prefer more privacy. I said no so we stayed in the open patdown area where, yes, anyone can see you. Meanwhile, the wheelchair companion assigned by the airport runs around collecting your stuff and then sits and waits for you or in at least once case spends quality time catching up on Farmville. In fact, this part is why, if you are carrying ANYTHING on the plane (I had a small backpack, a leather jacket, my shoes and my cane, and was wearing a thin long sleeved sweater) the airport will now insist that a companion go with you, so that your things aren't blocking the conveyor belt while everyone is waiting for the agent.
The agent then explains that she will be patting you down using only the back of her hand for "sensitive areas" (this meant breasts and inner thighs.) She puts on a pair of fresh latex gloves (blue in this case, which made me think Firefly thoughts). She then asks you to extend out your arms. This was not an issue in Orlando; it was a minor issue in Columbus, since by then I had hit the point where extending my arms made me slightly woozy. She then used the front of her hands to pat down my arms (I was wearing a long sleeved shirt) asked me to push back my shirt so she could see my watch, then asked me to lean forward so that she could run her hands down my back.
Then she had me lean back in my chair so she could run the backs of her hands over my breasts. She then patted down my stomach and ran her fingers over the tops of my pants, but not inside. She did not touch my crotch area although I understand that is happening. Next she did my legs, with the front of her hands on the outside of my legs and the back of her hands on the inside of my legs.
And in Columbus, the agent did one thing more: she ran the back of her hand against the top of my jeans, and then inserted a finger right beneath the edge, swiftly running her hand along that, apologizing as she did so and (in my opinion) looking embarrassed.
I have to be honest: this bit baffled me. It was inside my jeans enough to feel intrusive, but not far enough down to actually find anything, had I actually been hiding something there, so annoying without any real purpose.
Nobody patted down my feet. I wasn't concealing anything under my socks, but that did cross my mind.
After this, I still had to wait while my wheelchair was swiped for bomb material. While this was going on, my wheelchair was swiped for bomb material. This did not go well the first time (I blame the ice cream place) so it had to be reswiped.
Disabled advocates are probably already seeing issues with this that I can't think of. And although I was ok with this, I can certainly understand that many women would not be. And as a not really minor matter, the entire process is very time consuming (the process from airline counter to gate took a full 35 minutes in an uncrowded Columbus airport; the airport wheelchair companion said that it had been a full hour for wheelchair users on the more crowded Monday flights), meaning that now, as a wheelchair user, I really have to get to the airport two hours early to ensure that I can get on my flight. As someone who, even after 9-11, merrily skipped up to Southwest about a half hour to forty-five minutes ahead of time to leap on the plane at the last minute (I don't like airports) this is annoying.
As an environmentalist, I have another concern. I completely understand that no one wants to have hands that have been touching a lot of other people with all kinds of germs touching them, and understand the need for latex gloves. But, as I understand it, the TSA agents are pulling a lot of people aside for the patdowns - they certainly pulled several people over at Columbus - which means that we are going through a lot of latex gloves that are after this heading straight to landfills.
I'm all for latex gloves in medically necessary contexts. This isn't a medically necessary context.
I'll let others debate the effectiveness of this.
So as many of you are now painfully aware, the TSA is putting in large full body scanners at U.S. airports. Many people have voiced all kinds of unhappy complaints with this, including privacy concerns and the fact that with the body scanners you have to take absolutely everything out of your pockets, including wallets, cash and Kleenexes, and put them on the scanner. Based on my extremely unrepresentative sampling at the Columbus airport, most people are not happy with the wallet part, especially since your stuff is usually resting for some time on the other side of the conveyor belt while you are waiting to go through the scanner and as Leverage has taught us it does not take long to lift a wallet.
These are all valid concerns. I have another: I can, on medium or good days, make it through the metal detector if I release my cane at the last minute, stumble through and grab something on the other end. It's not pretty (and I have fallen) but it can be done.
With the body scanner, however, you have to be able to stand still. Since I can't do this without at the very least wobbling and swaying, I now have to do the patdown in my wheelchair.
The patdown is problematical for several reasons. The first, and one that I didn't think about prior to Columbus, is that my lightweight but still metal wheelchair sets off the still present metal detectors anyway unless it is placed in a very very precise position which takes some time to figure out, inconveniencing a lot of people besides me (the poor woman trying to get through the metal detector had to go through three times until my wheelchair was in the right place). So that was annoying for everybody.
Now, the actual patdown, for the curious:
You are wheeled to the side until a female agent can be found to pat you down, or a male agent if you are male. (I don't know what happens with intersexed people in wheelchairs. I did ask about transsexuals and at both Orlando and Columbus Airports the official word is that you will be assigned an agent of the gender you identify with. I don't know if that soothes or heightens concerns.) This takes a while since neither Columbus nor Orlando have enough of the specially trained agents of either gender to handle the number of people needing patdowns (they were also patting down people not using wheelchairs for various reasons.)
The agent asks if you would prefer more privacy. I said no so we stayed in the open patdown area where, yes, anyone can see you. Meanwhile, the wheelchair companion assigned by the airport runs around collecting your stuff and then sits and waits for you or in at least once case spends quality time catching up on Farmville. In fact, this part is why, if you are carrying ANYTHING on the plane (I had a small backpack, a leather jacket, my shoes and my cane, and was wearing a thin long sleeved sweater) the airport will now insist that a companion go with you, so that your things aren't blocking the conveyor belt while everyone is waiting for the agent.
The agent then explains that she will be patting you down using only the back of her hand for "sensitive areas" (this meant breasts and inner thighs.) She puts on a pair of fresh latex gloves (blue in this case, which made me think Firefly thoughts). She then asks you to extend out your arms. This was not an issue in Orlando; it was a minor issue in Columbus, since by then I had hit the point where extending my arms made me slightly woozy. She then used the front of her hands to pat down my arms (I was wearing a long sleeved shirt) asked me to push back my shirt so she could see my watch, then asked me to lean forward so that she could run her hands down my back.
Then she had me lean back in my chair so she could run the backs of her hands over my breasts. She then patted down my stomach and ran her fingers over the tops of my pants, but not inside. She did not touch my crotch area although I understand that is happening. Next she did my legs, with the front of her hands on the outside of my legs and the back of her hands on the inside of my legs.
And in Columbus, the agent did one thing more: she ran the back of her hand against the top of my jeans, and then inserted a finger right beneath the edge, swiftly running her hand along that, apologizing as she did so and (in my opinion) looking embarrassed.
I have to be honest: this bit baffled me. It was inside my jeans enough to feel intrusive, but not far enough down to actually find anything, had I actually been hiding something there, so annoying without any real purpose.
Nobody patted down my feet. I wasn't concealing anything under my socks, but that did cross my mind.
After this, I still had to wait while my wheelchair was swiped for bomb material. While this was going on, my wheelchair was swiped for bomb material. This did not go well the first time (I blame the ice cream place) so it had to be reswiped.
Disabled advocates are probably already seeing issues with this that I can't think of. And although I was ok with this, I can certainly understand that many women would not be. And as a not really minor matter, the entire process is very time consuming (the process from airline counter to gate took a full 35 minutes in an uncrowded Columbus airport; the airport wheelchair companion said that it had been a full hour for wheelchair users on the more crowded Monday flights), meaning that now, as a wheelchair user, I really have to get to the airport two hours early to ensure that I can get on my flight. As someone who, even after 9-11, merrily skipped up to Southwest about a half hour to forty-five minutes ahead of time to leap on the plane at the last minute (I don't like airports) this is annoying.
As an environmentalist, I have another concern. I completely understand that no one wants to have hands that have been touching a lot of other people with all kinds of germs touching them, and understand the need for latex gloves. But, as I understand it, the TSA agents are pulling a lot of people aside for the patdowns - they certainly pulled several people over at Columbus - which means that we are going through a lot of latex gloves that are after this heading straight to landfills.
I'm all for latex gloves in medically necessary contexts. This isn't a medically necessary context.
I'll let others debate the effectiveness of this.